M91/30 Spanish Civil War unearthed in Spain

[garcias]

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the Nationalist were supported by Italy and Germany. On the other hand, the Republicans were supported by several countries through the International Brigades and by the USSR, which fully provided with Mosin Nagants, amongst other supplies.

After the Nationalist victory, most Spaniards were afraid of having any object related to the Spanish Republic, so somebody in my family buried 2 M91/30 in the ground floor.

During the 60s, my grandfather took my father and his brother, and unearthed both Mosins, without giving them any info. They were forgotten for a long time in a corner, until my father told me about them.

This is the one in best shape, those stains are oil I added to loose the screws:

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I started researching about the Mosin and its mechanisms, it was my first experience with a firearm. As you can see, the bolt is missing, as the follower. Also, the wood stock didn’t survive all those years under the ground.

What could I do? My intention was not to turn it into a working rifle, I would say it's impossible, illegal in Spain and really dangerous. But, due its historical and familiar relevance, I just wanted to stop the rusting and restore it.

(More posts will follow)

[Junk Yard Dog]

Welcome to the board, oil will stop the rust, and eBay can supply someone selling 91/30 stocks, they are not rare, but likely will be post WW2 Soviet refurbished stocks. In the 1950's the Nationalists sold off the rifles the captured from the Republicans, most of them ended up here in the USA, I have a couple of them myself, many other members here probably have them also. Same as any other Soviet 91/30 except for some import marks added when they were brought in to the USA, and they were not refurbished before being sold off. Very cool things to find buried under the floor.

[garcias]

Welcome to the board, oil will stop the rust, and eBay can supply someone selling 91/30 stocks, they are not rare, but likely will be post WW2 Soviet refurbished stocks. In the 1950's the Nationalists sold off the rifles the captured from the Republicans, most of them ended up here in the USA, I have a couple of them myself, many other members here probably have them also. Same as any other Soviet 91/30 except for some import marks added when they were brought in to the USA, and they were not refurbished before being sold off. Very cool things to find buried under the floor.

Thank you very much for all that info! Those Soviet-Mexican Mosins were called mexicanskis, as they were wrapped with Mexican newspapers.
I already have the stock and missing pieces from Ebay, will upload more updates.

[garcias]

I drew upon Ebay to find some of the missing pieces, as I didn’t need them to be perfect. These Eastern Front swamp-recovered parts did the trick (not the actual photo, I couldn’t find them again on Ebay, but from the same seller):

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Electrolysis took off most of that rust, so I got almost fully functional parts:

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[Junk Yard Dog]

Welcome to the board, oil will stop the rust, and eBay can supply someone selling 91/30 stocks, they are not rare, but likely will be post WW2 Soviet refurbished stocks. In the 1950's the Nationalists sold off the rifles the captured from the Republicans, most of them ended up here in the USA, I have a couple of them myself, many other members here probably have them also. Same as any other Soviet 91/30 except for some import marks added when they were brought in to the USA, and they were not refurbished before being sold off. Very cool things to find buried under the floor.

Thank you very much for all that info! Those Soviet-Mexican Mosins were called mexicanskis, as they were wrapped with Mexican newspapers.
I already have the stock and missing pieces from Ebay, will upload more updates.

Mexico did receive something like 4-5000 USA made M1891 Mosin rifles after the First World War, it is possible they later sent some, or it was arranged that some would go to the Nationalists in Spain. There was a lot of that going on in the mid 1930's as various groups, and individuals tried to help the Republican cause against the Nationalists and their German, and Italian supporters. They smuggled weapons, and volunteered themselves for the International Brigades. Likely some American group supporting the Republican side bought the surplus Mosins in Mexico, and smuggled them to Spain, that would explain the Mexican newspapers. Mexico did not manufacture Mosins themselves, or receive support from the USSR. The Mexican army used Mauser rifles at that time. The USA, France, and the UK were not allowing weapons to be sold to either side in the conflict, yet Italy, and Germany sent everything the Nationalists wanted. Stalin in the USSR sent aid not to the Spanish Republicans, he sent it to the Spanish communists, by then they were fighting alongside the Republicans so the Mosin was widely used by all Republican forces. Foreign nationals in the UK, and the USA did what they could to get weapons to the Republicans, but it was difficult, dangerous, and illegal in their home countries.

I am familiar with the Russian groups that search the old battlefields for relics, and to recover the dead. They post videos on youtube of some of their more amazing finds. Often the soldiers died with their weapons in hand, the body's were never recovered. Now when they find the bones they often find rifles, pistols, machine guns, some amazingly well preserved.

[Darryl]

That is a "tomato Stake".

Darryl